1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sighting devices and, more particularly, to those sighting devices capable of being readily mounted onto any type of personal, hand-held or shoulder mounted combat firearm.
2. Description of Prior Art
A variety of sighting devices are known for aiming firearms and the like. Firearms typically employ two sights that are spaced from one another along a line substantially parallel to the path along which a projectile will be discharged. A user holds the firearm manually so as to view over and/or through the two spaced sights toward the target, and discharges the firearm. Adjustments can be made mechanically on the sight, or manually by the user, to adjust for windage and elevation. In any event, the objective is to align the firearm accurately with the target by viewing along a line to the target, as defined by the spaced sights, and holding the firearm along that line.
Various modern sights include the open sight, the peep sight, and the scope. Open sights are typically used on handguns and rifles. An open sight includes a front sight in the form of a blade member which is located at the extreme front end of the firearm. The rear sight is in the form of a planar member having a horizontal notch therein. The rear sight is typically positioned along the barrel or over the chamber portion of the firearm. To aim the firearm, a shooter aligns the front sight with the notch in the rear sight. The firearm is aligned vertically by setting the top edge of the front sight even with the top of the notch in the rear sight. The firearm is aligned laterally by centering the front sight within the notch. The intended target should now appear just against the top of the front blade. The front and rear sights are dimensioned to place the discharged projectile on the target viewed within a certain range, provided the sights are properly aligned.
In practice, the rear sight is closer to the shooter than the front sight, and the target is a substantially greater distance away. Thus, it is necessary for the shooter to choose where to focus his or her eyes. If the shooter focuses on the target, the sights will appear blurred. If the shooter focuses on the sights, the target will appear blurred. A similar situation is encountered when the shooter attempts to focus on the front or rear sights. This situation is not as pronounced, however, because the distance between the front and rear sights is small.
While shooters can shift their focus between the sights and the target, they are taught to focus on the sights when discharging the firearm, rather than the target. This allows the shooter to concentrate and clearly center the front and rear sights. While it is not necessary for the target to be in focus when the firearm is aimed, the reverse is not true. Misalignment of the sights will result in a missed shot even if the target can be clearly seen.
As a result of the above limitations, open sights are generally accurate only for targets within a local focal range of 25 meters for most handguns, although some rifles include open sights which are graduated to greater distances. As the distance to the target is increased, the view of the target degrades and accuracy declines rapidly. Telescopic sights are helpful for longer distances in that the cross hairs can be arranged such that they appear focused when viewing a target through the sight. However, telescopic sights are expensive and easily damaged.
Various sighting devices have been proposed for improving the accuracy of firearm sights. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 468,803 issued on Feb. 16, 1892 to Harris discloses a front gun sight comprising a vertical longitudinal blade enclosed by a circular shroud. The invention allows different styles of sights to be combined with a single sight block so as to be interchangeable in their use. The different sights may be quickly and easily substituted for another without the aid of a screwdriver or any other special tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,466,297 issued on Aug. 28, 1923 to Genard discloses a sight for firearms comprising an anterior solitary blade and a posterior peepsight. The peepsight works in conjunction with ordinary front sights to form a proper aim.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,989,863 issued on Feb. 5, 1935 to Humeston discloses a front sight for firearms comprising an anterior shrouded longitudinal blade. The shroud is slidably attached to the blade member.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,324 issued on May 21, 1935 to Lefever discloses a gun sight comprising an extensively enclosed rear peep sight and a shrouded anterior solitary blade. The invention also includes means for removably mounting the rear sight tube upon the barrel and for holding the same in proper alignment therewith.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,017 issued on Jul. 14, 1953 to Haase discloses an anterior shrouded gun sight having an interior longitudinal blade. The invention may be easily adapted for use with rifles or pistol type firearms.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,795,048 issued on Jun. 11, 1957 to Seymour et al. discloses a detachable rear sight for shotguns which includes sighting ribs on the barrels. The rear sight may be easily detached so that the object aimed at may be more clearly seen and sighted. A peep sight may be secured to a resilient body member which detachably grips the barrel itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,659 issued on Jun. 27, 1989 to Williams discloses a dual iron and telescopic sighting systems for the shooter. Iron sights are added to modified telescopic sight upper mounting rings which are attached to conventional telescopic sight lower mounting rings. The rear sighting element may be interchangeably provided with a peep type sight or an open blade sight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,941 issued on May 26, 1996 to Yusko discloses a sight for firearms which require manual alignment with a target along a viewing line. The sights are constructed to provide sufficient visual cues to the shooter to enable effective aiming while focusing on the target rather than the sight. The rear sight is in the form of a planar member perpendicular to the gun barrel and contains a substantially circular central opening. The front sight is in the form of a cylinder whose axis is parallel with the gun barrel.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 94,514 issued on Feb. 5, 1935 to Redfield discloses an ornamental design for gun sight.
German Patent document No. 262,402 published on Jul. 11, 1913 discloses a gun sight system. The invention does not show the dual tongue attachment means, the unitary construction, or the shrouded upright transverse wedge of the present invention.
British Patent document No. 159,075 published on Feb. 24, 1921 discloses a detachable shroud for the front sight of a shotgun. The invention includes a ring which is mounted perpendicular to the line of sight with, its center coincident to the line of sight. The invention is designed such that it may be readily clipped to the dual barrel of a shotgun.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a sight for firearms solving the aforementioned problems is desired.